The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to electrical connectors that are mounted to a circuit board.
Some known electrical connectors are mounted to a circuit board. The connectors typically are mounted to a single side of a circuit board, for example. The connectors are arranged to mate with or otherwise engage another connector to electrically couple the connectors with one another. As the sizes of devices that include such circuit boards and connectors decreases, however, the need for more efficient use of the real estate on the circuit boards increases. In order to meet this need, some connectors are arranged in a two by two or larger array that is mounted to one side of the circuit board. But, the array of connectors may protrude a considerable height above the circuit board. Some lower profile devices may be unable to include a circuit board having such an array of connectors. Additionally, some daughter boards having connectors mounted thereto may have insufficient space between the daughter boards and other components to permit use of such a connector array.
With respect to daughter circuit boards that include connectors for mating with backplane circuit boards, the mounting of the connectors to one side of the daughter circuit board causes the center of gravity of the connectors and daughter circuit board to be offset to one side of the daughter circuit board. Hence, the center of gravity may not be located along the daughter circuit board but may be disposed above the side of the board to which the connectors are mounted. As a result, mating the daughter circuit board to the backplane circuit board may be more difficult. For example, an operator may be unable to simply push on an edge of the daughter circuit board to cause the connectors on the daughter circuit board to mate with connectors on the backplane circuit board. The operator will need to use additional caution in applying force to the daughter circuit board to cause the connectors on the daughter circuit board to mate with the backplane circuit board.
Thus, a need exits for connectors mounted to a circuit board that results in a more efficient use of the surface area on the circuit board. Additionally, a need exists for a circuit board with a connector mounted thereto that may be more easily mated with a connector mounted to another circuit board.